Human Mortality and God's Eternality
Non Davidic Psalms • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsThough man is mortal, he can have everlasting life through Jesus Christ
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Intro: This lesson is about our temporary existence existence in this world, and, in contrast to our mortality, the eternal God. Our time on this earth is temporary because “it is appointed unto all men once to die”. When we say God is eternal, we mean God has no beginning and no end.
We humans, and all that we know and see, the universe and all that is in it, had a beginning, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The purpose of our scripture today is to teach and remind us that we have sinned and must die, while God, our Creator and Savior is holy and eternal. Therefore we need God, for only he can give us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
OUR EVERLASTING GOD
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.
The Lord Our Dwelling Place
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
Moses, the Man of God.” The writer of this Psalms declared: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations” (Psalm 90:1). Considering the forty years (or one third of his life) Moses spent wandering in the wilderness with no fixed dwelling place, it’s no wonder he would say, “Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!”.
The word translated “dwelling place” in the original Hebrew language means “refuge, shelter from danger or hardship, habitation.”
In this Psalm we see our relationship with God “the Lord, has been our dwelling place in all generations, the Apostle Paul in Acts 17:28
for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
We are completely dependent on God for our existence. For us, it’s just as Elihu said to Job, “If he, that is God, should gather to Himself His Spirit, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
Living On God’s Time
You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.
The Jewish Study Bible translates verse 3 like this “You Lord return man to dust, You decreed, Return you mortals.”
The Apostle Paul wrote that God had a good purpose in subjecting humans and all living things on earth to death. It was for the purpose of redemption from sin and its consequences, the redemption accomplished only through Jesus Christ.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Moses said in Psalm 90, “a thousand years of human history are to God “as a watch in the night”
We see from both statements that our time here is very short compared to the eternal realm where God lives without beginning or end.
HUMAN FRAILTY AND SINFULNESS
Psalm 90:5–11 (NKJV)
You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers. For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
The Brevity of Human Life
You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.
I’ve always use this illustration Tire and Pin hole:
when we sleep time passes so quickly
life is short, many live as if they will live forever in this world, not repenting of their sins nor considering what awaits them after death.
Sinful Living Invites God’s Wrath
Psalm 90:7–11 (NKJV)
For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.
The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
unrepentant sinners are consumed and troubled by the anger and wrath of God
we cannot hide our sin
our sins are set in the light of God’s countenance, which means He clearly sees all of our sins.
GOD REWARDS KINGDOM WORK
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Be Glad For God’s Mercy
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil.
So what should we gleam from this lesson
Conclusion: Now and forever, true believers can experience God as our dwelling place, enjoying the fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). In the “panorama of time and eternity,” God is our dwelling place from the ancient days of Moses to the new heavens and earth when, “behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3, ESV).